Mended Together
by mslizabeth
Summary: Rosalie and Emmett were high school sweethearts who had their lives all planned out until one event sent them on a spiral of miscommunication. Years later when the two reconnect can they find a way to move on and heal together?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my new story! My little ficlet and my new baby. It is Emmett and Rose, but I hope you'll give it a chance the plot bunny was a persistent one and wouldn't let me get away without writing it. It probably will be about 10 chapters the way I have it outlined. Sorry it took me so long to get around to posting it the last two weeks have been crazy, but for those of you reading This Is My Daddy chapter 3 will be finished tonight and be up as soon as it's beta'd.**

_****_**Thanks for giving this a shot!**

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><p><em>A bag of apples, cinnamon, brown sugar...Wait, I think I already have enough brown sugar. Whatever, it's probably hard, and a new bag is only a couple dollars. What else do I need? A lemon, oh, and a tv dinner. If I'm baking, I don't want to cook too. Pie is obviously a far more pressing issue than a home cooked meal. Oh, and ice cream! Screw anyone that thought it messed with the texture; it was perfection and better than sex. Or at least better than the sex I'm currently having.<em>

She arches her back, pressing her body closer to his, sounds leaving her mouth mindlessly._ They must be the right ones, _she thought, hearing him grunt in approval as he plows deeper into her.

She sighs, allowing herself to ponder how she can go through these motions without thought or feelings attached to them. If she were being completely honest with herself, which is a practice she avoided at all costs, she couldn't even remember the last time she enjoyed sex. Which, in retrospect, was a tragedy, because there had been a time in her life where it had easily been her favorite sporting event.

She sighs as her heart began questioning her head as to the reasons she's still here. Still under him. Still pretending that this has some hope of ever progressing past this awkward arrangement they have silently entered.

_Because it's easy. _The words her mind shouts at her heart aren't gentle; they are harsh and the honesty of them stings. She can no longer find a way to justify it to herself; even her head is starting to realize it might just be more lonely being with him than alone.

There were no more cuddles or whispered conversations. Those had ended months ago. The sleeping in the same apartment right along with it. She knew she was the one initiating all of the distance, but he isn't fighting her on it. It was as if they both knew those things were too intimate for a relationship like the one they were currently conducting.

Rose is positive they had once been in love. Once upon a time and all that when she had said yes and accepted the ring she was currently wearing. She knew they were approaching a place when they would finally have to discuss the elephant in the room that was the fact that their relationship would never reach that point where they would say 'I do'.

The thought that made her entire body cringe when she pondered it. She could pinpoint the exact moment that everything had changed. Her entire neatly ordered world had been rocked by a simple phone call.

She answered at least a hundred calls a day in her current position. If you were to ask her, she'd have no problem telling you that she didn't pay any mind to the mindless needs of the customer. That was the issue with technical support; she answered the same questions over and over. How hard is it to remember that when the lights stop blinking, it's time to reset your modem?

She often got chatty customers, so she pretended to laugh at their jokes or care about their children. She had occasionally even given out a dry cleaner's phone number in place of her own when no didn't seem to work with someone who insisted they needed to get a number to go with the beautiful voice. She was biding her time until she could find a position that she really wanted, but for now this paid the bills and kept her well supplied in shoes.

In fact, the only thing extraordinary about the day her world had been turned on it's axis had been her shoes. She was even shallow enough to admit that while she'd been giving her standard spiel and entering the account information, she had been admiring her leather and wool tartan plaid ankle boots up until the moment that the person on the other end of the phone had cracked some stupid joke and laughed at himself.

That laugh. It was enough to straighten her spine and bring tears to her eyes.

Her vocal chords had frozen as she'd listened to him continuing to babble. In typical form, it took him several minutes to realize that no one was politely responding to his end of the conversation.

"Excuse me?"

She tried to form words to even manage a squeak, but she couldn't force her body to work.

"Ma'am? Hey Lady! I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I didn't catch your name." He continued pausing between his statements. "Okay, maybe I'm off. Dude? Sir? Other human being who deserves to be treated with respect and no judgment about gender-"

"Emmett Dale, shut up. Gah, some things never change do they..."

The phone line between them seemed to crackle with electricity in the silence between my exasperated statement and the unusual stillness on the other end.

"Wait. No."

She could almost see the confusion on his face, the way it scrunched up when he was trying to figure something out. She wondered if it still had all the same lines all these years later.

"It's not you, is it?"

She could barely hear his voice through the headset, so she switched to the receiver as if it would somehow bring her closer to him.

"Well, it's obviously me. I really am unsure how to be anyone other than myself." She smirked as the words left her mouth.

"Rosie..."

"No one calls me that."

"I don't care what anyone else calls you. You're my Rosie"

Her shoes were forgotten as she shifted in her seat, curling her legs up under her in a comfortable position, mindlessly twisting her hair around her finger. "Oh is that so?"

"Yeah, it is. What are you doing with yourself?"

"Working." As the word leaves her mouth, it occurs to her the position she had assumed. She then quickly shifted, her feet hitting the floor, and she sat up straighter. Glancing around to be sure no one had seen her slip of character, she cleared her throat a little. "Which is why you called me. Are you having issues with your Internet?"

"Well, my modem won't turn on. When you plug it in, none of the lights will come on."

"None of them? Are you sure that the power cord is plugged into the outlet?" As she asks the question, she wants nothing more than to pound her head against her desk, because her Emmett has turned into one of those boneheads that call needlessly without checking the connections on their end.

"Of course it's plugged into the power strip. I'm not an idiot. I actually think the issue is that it may have gotten wet."

"Okay, so you spilled something on your modem? Not a problem, your service plan will likely cover that. Do you mind if I ask what happened?"

"What happened? Well, to be honest, I didn't spill anything. It fell off the desk and my daughter peed on it."

"Your dog peed on it?" She knew what she had heard, but she couldn't stop herself from being hopeful that she had misheard him.

"No, no my dog is more well trained than that. It was my daughter. She's just potty training and I'm clearly very good at it."

She found herself laughing at his joke, and while it wasn't her standard _you're an idiot and I'm laughing so I can be done with this conversation_ laugh that she reserved for customers, it wasn't a real laugh either.

Her thoughts were overwhelming her and she felt like she was drowning in a pool. He had moved on. No, not just moved on, he had her dream. Her fantasies. With someone else. Her chest was burning with the effort that was now necessary to take controlled breaths.

Why did this hurt so badly? It had been years since she had even seen Emmett. The memories of the man he was growing into washed over her, out from the abyss in her mind where she thought she had long since buried them.

"Rosie?"

"I do apologize, I was doing some research on your service warranty." She stated in her most bored professional voice as she quickly retrieved the screen she was supposed to be on currently. "Water damage to your modem is covered. It doesn't matter how the accident occurred."

"Rosie, what's wrong?"

"Your modem is broken." She reminded him, needlessly talking around the issue he was discussing.

"Exactly, who gives a shit! I'll go buy a new one or you can send a service tech out with one, whatever."

"I can set up an appointment for you. When would be a good part of the day for you?"

"Damn it! Rosie-"

"Stop calling me that!"

She knew her voice was an inappropriate level for work and she threw the handset across her desk, dropping her face into her hands as she counted slowly to ten. She couldn't bear to look up and see which of her co-workers attention she had managed to snag. She swallowed hard as she picked up her headset, slipped it on, and pushed the buttons to turn the handset back off as she took a deep breath.

"Mr. McCarty, it would be my pleasure to set up a service call for you. If you would just tell me what part of the day would work best for you, I'll get you on with your day."

"Rosalie Lillian Hale. Stop it right now. Tell me why you're acting like this."

"Sir, there is no need to growl. I can transfer you to a manager if you are unhappy with the way I'm handling your call."

"I don't want to talk to your manager, but I want you to talk to me. What did I do wrong?"

"Emmett." She closed her eyes. It hurt her to form a snarky sentence, or even to form any sentence at all in reality.

"Rosie, what is wrong? Tell me how to fix it, please?"

"There's nothing you can do. I just need to focus and do my job." She whispered as she wiped away her tears hoping that her voice isn't betraying her. "Please," she pleaded with him, willing him to understand that she had to be done with this.

"I need to see you."

"I'm sorry, that's not possible. I need to transfer you to someone to assist you with setting up an appointment. Please hold."

"Don't do it, Rosie! Don't...I'm just going to keep calling back again and again until I get you again."

"There's no reason for that, Emmett. It was nice to hear from you again, but that doesn't mean we need to attempt to reform a friendship."

"Just give me your number. Please?"

"No. I can't."

"Rosie, please. You know that I'm just going to keep going round and round until you do it."

"That's considered stalking and harassment Emmett, and as I informed you at the beginning of this call, it is being monitored for quality assurance. Which means that I have legal proof of your harassment."

"Rosie, this isn't over."

"But it is. I'm going to transfer you to my floor manager to finish your call. Thank you for calling American Cablevision. Have a pleasant rest of your day."

"Rosalie. Rosalie!"

The voice that pulls her out of her reverie is pleasant enough in it's own rough, gravelly tone. "What is it Jake?" She finally demands, not caring that she was being short with him.

"I asked if you were still going with me to Rachel's wedding tomorrow."

"Is that tomorrow? I thought it was in a couple weeks"

"In a couple of weeks? Come on, Rose! What the hell?" He rages as he climbs out of the bed, yanking on his boxers as he glares in disgust. "I've been talking about this for ages."

"Shut up! I was just confused. I'm sorry that I can't be as perfect as you."

Anytime Jake gets snippy or irritated, justified or otherwise it has a tendency to cause her to give it back to him ten fold. She yanks her cami over her head, glaring, "Of course I'm going with you. I'm helping her out with hair and make up and being sure that everything runs on schedule. It's up in La Push, right?"

Her mind already running through worst case scenarios. Despite the close proximity of their home towns the two hadn't known each other growing up, but the idea of being so close to Forks again caused fear to well up in her chest. She calmed herself with the knowledge that there was no way that Emmett was back there now.

The idea of running into _him_ at the wedding was a thought that she couldn't even allow herself to fully form, because it was bound to bring up memories and unwelcome feelings. One phone conversation with him and she couldn't have a single thought that didn't somehow seem to bunny trail back to him.

He was hers. He always had been in her mind, even though she had made the mistake letting him go. She should have made him listen. She should have gone to him that night and explained just what he saw that nothing was what he thought.

"See, there you go again, Rose! What planet is your damned brain residing on these days?"

She rolls her eyes as she grabs her cell, tucking it between her ear and shoulder as she orders Chinese, giving him a pointed look when she only orders enough for herself. Silently crossing the kitchen to the freezer, she pulls out a pint of ice cream for a pre-dinner snack.

"Well, I guess I'm going home for dinner."

"I'm so glad you can take a subtle hint and not let this become awkward."

"You've been acting like a bitch a lot lately."

The spoon is out of her hand before it can touch the ice cream, nailing him in the forehead and causing a string of curses to leave his mouth.

"Watch your mouth in my house."

"Damn, is it time for your month already?"

"Get out of my house, Jake! If you're lucky, I'll let you take me to Rachel's wedding."

"You'll _let_me take you," He declares as he yanks his motor cycle jacket on, stalking to the door. "Don't forget who's diamond that is on left hand!"

She rolls her eyes, pulling open the drawer and getting a new spoon. "Don't forget that it doesn't mean you own me," she growled to herself, scraping her teeth across the spoon.

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><p><strong>What'd you think? These two have a bit of a journey to find their way back to each other and find their HEA. Let me know your thoughts! :) <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, here's chapter 2. I apologize for the delay my beta ha some things going on. Here's a bit of their history and just why they're not together now. This chapter contains a bit of discussion on some sensitive material. Nothing is terribly graphic, but I wanted you to be forewarned.**

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><p>She sat at the table drumming her fingers on the table. The wedding had gone off without a hitch. She'd spent all her time fixing little problems that she was sure were someone else's job, but it kept her behind the scenes; which meant kept her from having to deal with all of the people she had been more than happy to leave behind when she left Forks years ago.<p>

Her eyes strayed to the dance floor, she'd been helping in the kitchen when Sue had finally declared everything finished. She shooed everyone out into the reception, declaring that it was time to party; she wrapped her arm around Rose while forbidding her from doing anything else, pointed her at Jake's table and told her to have a good time. However, she had pushed around her lukewarm wedding meal and she was now watching him do his version of the mating dance with some unsuspecting friend of Rachel's from college.

He had asked her to dance, but the fact of the matter was she had made that mistake once and only once. Jake thought he had moves that could rival the crews on America's Best Dance Crew, but in reality he looked like he was having a grand mal seizure anytime he started moving against the beat rather than with it.

She sighed, deciding the scene was too pathetic for her to watch any more, and letting her eyes wander. Rachel and Paul looked happy as they danced in the middle of the floor completely oblivious to the rest of the world. She really was glad she had been able to be here for that moment. To see that it was possible for love to survive. As her eyes wandered further, they landed on the back of a head.

Her breath caught in her throat as she studied it, shaking her head quickly. There was no way he was here, because she knew she would have noticed it long before now. Despite her own inner protest against his presence, she knew

"Dance with me, mon petite Rose."

The voice sent chills down her spine as she swallowed hard and turned in her chair stiffly as if she was unaffected by it. She faced the chilling eyes of the man she had been avoiding all day. "Royce, no."

"Oh come on, for old time's sake at least you owe me one?"

"I owe you one?" She snorted in an unladylike manner as her eyes narrowed and turned to ice as she leveled him with a stare. "More like you owe me one. A big one like my life back. You know, the one you ruined."

"Oh come on. tell me you're not still caught up on that old stuff? He wasn't good for you, Rose. You needed a real man someone who could take you out and show you how to have fun, and break you in right."

The champagne she'd been using as a crutch to get through the night was in his face before he had the last word was out of his mouth. She no longer cared if she drew attention to herself as she stood up and looked at him in his eyes.

"Let me make one thing clear, Royce. I don't ever want you to speak to me again. If you see me coming down the street, cross and walk on the other side. If we end up on the same plane together, tell the flight attendant you need to catch a later flight. If I could find a way to have you deported from the country I would, and even that wouldn't be enough distance. So we're clear you are the scum between my toes."

Rose had her back to him and was storming off with her head held high, as if nothing could stop her now. She had the keys to Jake's stupid Rabbit in her purse and she was going to use them to escape. She opened her purse to retrieve them, not realizing she was walking into someone until it was too late. She started to mumble apologies when she froze again under his touch.

"Did you just quote Little Rascals while you were telling him off?"

She swallowed hard, hoping if she just side stepped a little to the left she could walk around him and pretend that this encounter had never happened.

He anticipated the move before she made it and stepped in sync with her and put his hands on her arms, forcing her to look up at him. The electricity that flowed between the two of them nearly made him jump. He had been sure he'd imagined how strong his draw was to her was, but here with her in front of him again he realized he had in fact underestimated it.

"Rosie."

"I can't."

The anguish in her voice sliced through him in an instant. Emmett found himself wishing he could undo all that was between them. Take her back to a place where he had made her happy.

Hell, the way he figured it, if they were back in that happy place she'd have jumped him after a separation like this. Her long legs would be around his waist. he remembered how that felt-

"Shit." He interrupted his own thoughts as he realized she was getting away. Again.

He took off after her, she may have legs that go on for days, but her ridiculously high heels that made them look even more shapely hindered her escape enough for him to catch up for her.

"Rosie, baby, you have to talk to me."

She shook him away, the betrayal in her eyes was enough to make him step back from her, but the problem was he couldn't place why she felt so betrayed.

"No, we don't."

"Rosie-"

The sound that came out of her mouth couldn't have been human of that he was sure, it sounded almost feral and he took one more step back.

"Stop calling me that."

"Okay, okay, I'm not going to call you that. Rosalie, talk to me."

She kept her trek through the grass until she arrived at one of the smallest and ugliest cars I had ever seen, it didn't seem her type at all, but apparently a lot had changed in her life.

"No, you moved on. You don't get to talk to me."

"Moved on? Rosie, it's been five years since I've seen you."

"Four years, Nine months, and twelve days, but who's counting?"

He didn't dare point out that obviously she was, but he stepped forward his hand on the door effectively stopping her from ripping it open and causing her to turn her icy stare on him.

"What do you mean I moved on." He held his left hand up which was noticeably bare of even a hint of a tan line from wearing a wedding ring.

She snorted and he had to duck to miss being hit by her handheld purse being flung in the direction of his head, luckily she'd always thrown like a girl.

"Is that suppose to mean something to me in a day in age where men regularly don't wear a ring at all and especially not when they're out trolling for chicks."

"Trolling for chicks? Is that what you think I was doing here?"

"I don't give a shit what you were doing here, Emmett, we're finished. We have been for a long time."

"Maybe we weren't done the last time we said good-bye," he brazenly suggests as he narrows his eyes challenging her with his words.

"It doesn't matter, Emmett. You have a daughter. A life. I'm not a part of it and you are not a part of mine. Now get your hands off my boyfriends car."

She knew it wasn't fair to play that card at him, but at the moment she would grasp at any straws she needed to in order to escape him.

"I don't care if it's the pope's car. We need to talk, Rosie."

Unfortunately for him, her aim with her too high heels was much better than her flying purse and when he felt her grinding her foot into his, it was the last of it he could take. He scooped Rose up and put her over her shoulder, he kept his arm just under her butt to keep her dress from flying up and flashing the rest of the world her panties.

"Emmett Dale! Put me down! You can't get away with this. We're not kids anymore, and I don't think this caveman act is attractive."

He holds his tongue from telling her she used to find it extremely attractive as he stalks towards the woods with her. "Doesn't matter if it's not attractive, funny, or anything else; we are going to talk this out."

"No we're not. The minute you put me down I'm going to run."

"Good note, walk further than Rose can run in those heels or just don't put her down. You know, I think you weigh the same as in high school and we know from experience I can do this for hours on end, so you might as well just give in and talk to me."

"Talk about what? There's nothing to talk about. You didn't want to talk four years ago, why should I want to talk now?"

"If I recall you weren't really forthcoming with the details four years ago. You can't lay all the blame for what happened on me."

"Royce-"

Emmett cut her off with a look as he glared over his shoulder at her, shaking his head "You slept with Royce, yes, I do recall that much of the details."

She balled her hand, let ting out a small shriek as her fist connected with his back repeatedly. She suspected it was still so solid that he would never feel it, but she could careless because she wanted to hurt him the way his words hurt her.

"I didn't sleep with Royce. He ripped my dress, forced me into the back of his truck. He was going to..."

He could feel that her body as it trembled in his hands and he immediately set her on the ground in front of him.

"He was going to what? Rose, he forced himself on you?"

He could see it all over again as if it were yesterday, walking to the clearing and finding Rose laid out in the back of his truck, her dress askew and Royce's pants down. He'd been so furious that he'd taken the fear in Rose's eyes as being fearful because she had been caught, not that she was terrified of Royce.

He wanted to die a thousand deaths for making a mistake like this. For walking away and leaving her at his mercy.

"Rosie, please?" The setting sun caused the moisture on her cheeks to glisten and he wanted to hit the rewind button and go back and undo what he had allowed to happen to his girl. He had betrayed her in the worst way possible. He had been so blinded by his own rage that he had left her with a monster willingly. He was responsible for the brokenness he saw in her.

"I'm so sorry, Rosie. I-I-there are no words."

"It was a long time ago, Emmett. I'm over it. I hate what he cost me. I hate that he felt like he could take something like that from me. He said I was asking for it. He said-He said-"

Her words seemed to get stuck in her throat and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him. He expected her to struggle against his hold, but he felt her melting into him. "I don't blame you, Emmett."

"I do. My word, Rosie, I'm such a fool. Such an idiot. How could I?"

"I should have spoken up. When you got so mad in the clearing, I've replayed that night a million times in my head, thinking about how to fix it, but you're not to blame Emmett. It took me a long time to realize that, but you're not. Royce made the decision to do what he did. I made a decision to refuse treatment. I told my parents that nothing happened, that I was fine."

"I should have let you explain. I should have ripped him off of you and beat his face in the way I wanted to for touching my girl. I was such a damned idiot and let my pride get in the way, Rosie."

He studied her as they stood there, he wanted to believe that she didn't blame him, but how was he supposed to believe such a thing when he couldn't even believe it himself. He was to blame for what had happened. He had loved her with everything in him, and he had let her go willingly. What a fool he had been.

"Rosie-"

She held up her hand stopping him before he progressed. "Emmett, I didn't tell you all of that to make you feel guilty or to try to get something out of you. I'm trying to provide you with some truth, since Royce brought everything up to the surface. We're grown ups now. You have your life and I have mine. It was good to see you; I'm glad things in your life are going well. Best of luck with your wife and daughter."

She had turned on her heel and stalked away as he stood there dumbfounded, attempting to figure out what the hell she was talking about. He glanced at his left hand again. She was still caught up in this senseless thought that he was shitting her earlier about not being married. He had never been married, hell, he'd given up that dream the night he'd seen Royce on top of Rose.

Suddenly, the light bulb above his head clicked on as he realized she'd mentioned his Crissy. She must have thought he was still with Irina, as if that hadn't been the biggest sham of a relationship ever. Honestly, if it wasn't for Crissy in his life, it would have left a bitter taste in his mouth, but when the end result was his little princess, he couldn't find it in himself to feel that way.

He just had to figure out how to get to Rosie again and prove that he wasn't what she thought either. He knew they couldn't go back to those carefree days in high school, but he wanted his second chance at happily ever after. He laughed at the obscurity of his own thoughts; clearly he had spent one too many evenings curled up with his little girl and her princess obsession. He needed a plan and a drink, not necessarily in that order. Maybe he needed to do a little investigation to see who the owner of the small, ugly car Rose was trying to escape was. He was after all her _boyfriend _and sure to be a fount of knowledge on how to find his Rosie again.

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><p><strong>Like it? Hate it? Confused? Let me know what you think :) <strong>


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